7188.000 Gmelina L.

Trees, tall shrubs, rarely sub-shrubs, often climbing when young; branchlets tomentose, often spiny. Leaves opposite; lamina simple, sometimes lobed, usually with large glands near the base. Inflorescence usually of cymes or panicles, terminal, sometimes 1-flowered in leaf axils. Calyx campanulate, persistent and enlarged in fruit; corolla zygomorphic, tube narrow at base, throat wide, limb oblique, 2-lipped; upper lip bi-lobed or entire; lower lip tri-lobed with mid-lobe larger. Fruit a drupe, succulent, endocarp bony, mesocarp fleshy. Seeds 4, or by abortion 3 or 2.

Derivation of name: for Johann Georg Gmelin, 1709-1755, German physician, botanist and plant collector.

Worldwide: 35 species Pakistan to China, West and North Central Melesia.

Malawi: 1 cultivated taxon.